Control device for the transfer operation of a double coil-winder

ABSTRACT

A device for controlling the transfer operation of wire from one spool to the next in an automatic double coil-winder provided with a traverse winding mechanism which moves alternately in a back-and-forth motion along the entire width of the spools, starting from one of their ends where wire-catching means are located. It comprises a counter capable of continuously counting the length of paid-out wire, means for doubling the counter&#39;&#39;s counting rate and for stopping the counter from functioning during the back travel of the traverse winding mechanism, a control element actuated by the counter when the predetermined length of wire has been counted which causes a reversal of the sense of travel of the traverse winding mechanism, and means for initiating the transfer operation which is actuated when the traverse winding mechanism reaches the end of its back travel following that final reversal of its direction of motion.

i United States'Patent 91 Maillefer June 4, 1974 1 CONTROL DEVICE FOR THE TRANSFER OPERATION or A DOUBLE COIL-WINDER [75] lnventor: Charles Maillefer, Rcnens,

Switzerland [73] Assignee: Maillefer S.A., Vaad, Switzerland [22] Filed: Dec. 21, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 317,124

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 23, 1971 Switzerland 18863/71 [52] US. Cl. 242/25 A, 242/25 A [51] Int. Cl B65h 54/02 [58] Field 'of Search 242/25 A, 25 R [56] i References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3.701.491 7 10/1972 Brown 242/25 A Primary Iilraminon-John W. Huckert Assistant"Exttmint'n-Milton S. Gerstew Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [57] ABSTRACT A device for controlling the transfer operation of wire from one spool to the next in an automatic double coil-winder provided with a traverse winding mechanism which moves alternately in a back-and-forth motion along the entire width of the spools, starting from oneof their ends where wire-catching means are 10- v cated. It comprises a counter capable of continuously counting the length of paid-out wire, means for dou bling the'counters counting rate and for stopping the counter from functioning during the back travel of the traverse winding mechanism, a control element actuated by the counter when the predetermined length of wire has been counted which causes a reversal of the sense of travel of the traverse winding mechanism, and means for initiating the transfer operation which is actuated when the traverse winding mechanism reaches the end of its back travel following that final reversal of its direction of motion.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CONTROL DEVICE FOR THE TRANSFER OPERATION OF A DOUBLE COlL-WINDER When bare or insulated metallic wires are being manufactured, the last machine ordinarily used in the production sequence is an automatic double coil-winder which allows for delivery of the product onto a spool.

These coil-winders are provided with a traverse winding mechanism that guides the wire and alternately moves along the entire width of the spools in such a manner that the wire regularly winds on the central core. The transfer means comprises a wire-catching device and is meant to allow for the cutting of the wire when the spool is full. The end of the wire from the production line may then be transferred to an empty spool which has been previously started so that the peripheral speed of its shaft will then be approximately the same as that of the wire. Then the full spool may be stopped and removed from the coil-winder. In this manner the transfer will occur without slowing the wire.

lt hasalready been suggested that such coil-winders be provided with a counting meter which would actuate a contact after having counted a predetermined length of wire. However, because the cutting of the wire must take place when the traverse winding mechanism is near the end of the spool where the wire catching device is located, the transfer arrangement must be so fashioned that when the contact controlled by the counting meter closes, the traverse operation will continue until the traverse winding mechanism will be near that end of the spool where the wire-catching device is located. As a result the length of wire actually wound on each spool exceeds the desired length.

The purpose of the present invention is to create a control device forthe transfer operation that will ensure a constant and precisely predetermined length of wire on each spool.

To that end, an object of the present invention is to provide a control device for the transfer operation of a double automatic coil-winder which has a traverse winding mechanism that alternately executes a to-andfro motion along the entire width of the spool and which starts from the one end of the spool where a wire-catching device is located. The control device comprises a counter capable of continuously counting the paid-out length of wire that has been manufactured, means for doubling the counters counting rate and for suspending operation of the counter during the return travel of the traverse winding mechanism, a control element which is actuated by the counter when a predetermined length of wire has been counted and which causes a reversal of the travel direction of the traverse winding mechanism and means for actuating the controlled transfer operation when the traverse winding mechanism reaches the end of its travel of the back leg following said reversal of its direction of travel.

The following detailed description and drawings illustrate adevice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

HO. 1 is a top-view of an automatic double coil winder provided with a traverse winding mechanism. and

FIG. 2 is an electrical circuit diagram of a control device for the transfer operation which is a form of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an additional electrical circuit diagram of a control device for the transfer operation which is a form of an embodiment of the present invention.

H6. 1 shows in diagrammatic form two spools l and 2 mounted on a coil-winder of which the base 3 supports certain means (not shown) that ensure rotation of these two spools about the two parallel axes 4 and 5. Elements 6 and 7 are rigidly fastened to driving means for the spools and are wire-catching devices. When one spool is full, the wire 8 from the production line is detoured either by the traverse winding mechanism 9 or by other means, so that it will pass on the wire-catching devices 6 or 7, depending on whether the full spool is spool 1 or spool 2, and this causes the wire to be cut. The traverse'winding mechanism is so controlled as to alternately move from one end of the spool to the other. At each end of its travel, it will momentarily close one of the end-of-travel contacts 12 and b In order to allow automatic execution of the transfer operation once an accurately predetermined length of wire has been wound on each spool, the well-known coil-winder shown in FlG. l is further provided with an arrangement shown in FIG. 2 which comprises a pulley 10 on which wire 8 is being wound or on which it is passing in such manner that the pulley rotates at a speed precisely proportional to the speed of the wire. This pulley l0 drives a disc of counter 11 provided with a lug 12 which rotates in front of two pulse actuators g and g each made up of contacts which will close when actuated by lug 12. These two actuators are arranged diameterically opposite each other and each contact is momentarily closed once during the course of a complete rotation of pulley 10. Contacts g and g are connected to the right-hand side of the circuit shown in FIG. 2 so as to provide pulses to counter h which comprises a summing device which may, for example, be a disc rotating stepwise and moving one step for every pulse received. a

This control diagram comprises in its left-hand side connections ensuring the operation of the traverse winding mechanism: the two relays a, and d are each energized when the unenergized-contact (1' and ti of the other relay is closed, that is, when the other relay is unenergized. Relay controlis effected by the end-oftravel contacts b and b of the traverse winding mec hanism, and this ensures a to-and-fro motion of that mechanism along the entire spool width as each are begun to be filled. As seen from the middle part of the control diagram in FIG. 2, at the beginning of winding, contacts h d and I1 are open so that contact dag of relay d,-, is maintained open. As a result the pulses from actuator g will not be transmitted to summer It. The summer, therefore, will advance by one step for each rotation of cam 11..

When a first predetermined length of wire has been counted, the summer reaches a first position in which it will close an advanced contact element constituted by contact 11,. Then, when end-of-travel contact b which is a duplication of contact b closes, i.e., the moment the traverse winding mechanism is at the end of its travel near the wire-catching device, relay d will be energized and hence the keeping contact d;;, and the contat d will close and contact dag will open. It will be noted that from this instant, the pulses from actuators g and g will be transmitted to counter h only when contact (1, is closed. Contact d is closed when relay (I is energized and this occurs when the traverse winding mechanism is moving in the direction away from the wire-catching device. On the other hand, during the backward return travel of the traversewinding mechanism, contact d will be open and no pulses will be transmitted to the counter. Thus, when contact d is closed, the counter receives two pulses for each revolution of cam 11, so that the counting rate is doubled with respect to the conditions prevailing during the first phase of operation of the device.

A control element comprising contact h is actuated at the moment when the length of wire of the desired length for each spool has been exactly counted and is controlled by the summer of counter h. A contact h is associated with contact h and this'contact 11 as seen in the diagram, causes the energizing of relay d This is so because the counter only counts when the traverse winding mechanism moves away from the wire catching means; that is, when relay d isenergized, contact and obviously also contact b are open and hence relay d could not be energized. lt suffices, therefore, that upon the closing of contact h relay d energizes and this causes an immediate reversal in the direction of the traverse winding mechanism. This mechanism then moves back towards the wire-catching means. During this back travel there will be a kind of compensation for the headstart of the counter since the counter is not counting so that when the wire is touching the flange of the spool on the side of the wirecatching means, the length of wire actually wound will exactly correspond to that which has been counted. lt suffices then that the closing of contact b which occurs at that instant, triggers the transfer operation. This is performed by relay a, and contact b which is also a duplication of contact b Relay'd, is of the pulseactuated kind controlling the wire-cutting and the transfer. Energizing this relay causes the opening of contact L1 and the opening of contact d. which thereby removes the energy from relay d As a result the counter value for the counter h is again in its initial condition. Further, opening contact d will bring back the left-hand side of the diagram to its initial conditions. It is enough, therefore, that the summer It be provided with means for automatically resetting it to zero the moment the transfer signal has been emitted in order that contacts 11 and It, also open up, and this allows for closing contact d and renders the cirocuit in aposition ready for renewing the counting operation.

It is obvious that the described control device may be executed diffferently than shown in the diagram. Particularly, in lieu of a diagram showing electromechanical components such as relays or a mechanical counter, transistorized electronics or even partial or fully integrated circuits may be used. Also, mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic control and information transmission components may be used.

FIG. 3 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention. Element 21 is a conventional divider-by-two or bi-s'table multivibrator circurt. Only one of the transistors P P is in the conducting state, but each time, the contact g (FIG. 2) is closed the conducting transistor is changed. The frequency of the impulses at the output terminal 24 is thus divided by two. Element 22 is an electronic counter with double preselecting properties, which corresponds to h of FIG. 2. Element 23 is the input terminal of the divider which is maintained at the voltage .t through R7 when g! is open. When 3! closes.

the voltage at 23 falls down to p. whereby triggering impulses are provided at the foot of the resistors R1 and R2. The contact d32 serves here to connect the counter 22 to the input or to the output terminal of the divider. When (112 is open the counting is interrupted. Block 21 represents a divide-by-two, or flip-flop, circuit, with power supply +u and u, its input 23, and its output 24. Block 22 represents a counter with 3,4,5 or 6 decades, with its input 25. When the contacts are in the'position shown in FIG. 3, the input of the flipfiop (23) and that of the counter (25) are connected at the +u via r7. When gl closes, the two inputs are quickly brought to u, with an intense current surge through r7. This rapid voltage variation in 23 produces brief negative pulses on the collectors of transistors P1 and p2 by capacitors Kl and-K2 and flips the circuit into the other state (P1 and P2 exclude one another owing to the crossing R3-P2 and R4-P1). Every two pulses of input 23, a negative-going (signal) appears at the output 24 of 21, so that if d32 is actuated, input 25 of counter 22 receives half of the pulses given by gl. When dl2 is open, g1 can no longer transmit pulses. R3 and R4 are resistors for. blocking the opposite transistors. K3 and K4 are coupling capacitors of the divideby-two circuit. Finally, the relays are ordinary, wellknown electromagnetic relays.

Thus is should be observed that the doubling of the counting ratebetween the time of reaching the advanced element and the time when the control compo-v nent corresponding to the final length has been reached may be executed by means other than those described. One might provide a counter emitting a signal of frequency'proportional to the length of wire paid-out and one might furtheprovide a further provide between that pulse actuator and the counter which would remain short-circuited until the advanced control element has been reached. To provide an idea of the orders of magnitudes involved, it will be observed that for a spool meant to accept 20 kilometers of wire, the advanced full speed transfer may be smoothly carried out without any loss of time.

The device described allows executing this transfer in an automatic manner and further allows winding a precisely determined length of wire which will be constant from one spool to the next.

What is claimed is:

1. A control device for the transfer operation of wire being wound alternately on first and second spools in an automatic double coil-winder provided with a traverse mechanism which moves alternately in a backand-forth motion along the entire width of the spools, starting from one of their ends adjacent to which wire catching means are located. said apparatus comprising:

a counter for continuously counting a length of wire being wound on said spools.

meansfor doubling the counters counting rate during one direction of travel of sad traverse mechanism abd and for stopping the counter from functioning during the opposite direction of travel of the traverse mechanism,

a control element actuated by the counter when a predetermined length of wire has been counted and causing a reversal of the sense of travel of the traverse mechanism, and

means for initiating the transfer operation which is actuated when the traverse mechanism reaches the end of its travel in the direction toward said wirecatching means following said reversal of its direction of motion.

2. A device according to claim 1, further comprising an advanced control element actuated by the counter when said counter has counted a first length of wire less than said predetermined length and means coupling said advanced control element to said doubling means for doubling the counting rate and for removing the counter from operation when the traverse mechanism is traveling in said opposite direction.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein said advanced element is actuated when the counter has counted a length at least equal to 9/10 of said predetermined length and wherein said advanced element also initiates launching the empty spool which is to receive the wire following the transfer operation.

4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the initiating means for the transfer operation comprise an endof-travel contact which is actuated when the traverse mechanism reaches the end of its back travel, said endof-travel contact being connected to a circuit in series with said control element.

5. A device according to claim 1, wherein said counter comprises a cam which is rotationally driven at a speed proportional to that of the wire, two pulse actuators disposed on diametrically opposite sides of said cam and actuated thereby, a summing circuit coupled to said actuators such that all the pulses from one of the actuators are transmitted to said summing circuit, and wherein said means for doubling the counting rate comprisesa contact which upon being closed also con trols the transmission of pulses from the other actuator to the summing circuit.

6. A device according to claim 1, wherein said counter comprises means for generating pulses of afrequency proportional to the wire speed, means for dividing said frequency by two and a summing circuit coupled to the output of said frequency dividing means, and wherein said means for doubling the counting rate of the counter comprises a circuit for short-circuiting the output of said divider means. 

1. A control device for the transfer operation of wire being wound alternately on first and second spools in an automatic double coil-winder provided with a traverse mechanism which moves alternately in a back-and-forth motion along the entire width of the spools, starting from one of their ends adjacent to which wire-catching means are located, said apparatus comprising: a counter for continuously counting a length of wire being wound on said spools, means for doubling the counter''s counting rate during one direction of travel of sad traverse mechanism abd and for stopping the counter from functioning during the opposite direction of travel of the traverse mechanism, a control element actuated by the counter when a predetermined length of wIre has been counted and causing a reversal of the sense of travel of the traverse mechanism, and means for initiating the transfer operation which is actuated when the traverse mechanism reaches the end of its travel in the direction toward said wire-catching means following said reversal of its direction of motion.
 2. A device according to claim 1, further comprising an advanced control element actuated by the counter when said counter has counted a first length of wire less than said predetermined length and means coupling said advanced control element to said doubling means for doubling the counting rate and for removing the counter from operation when the traverse mechanism is traveling in said opposite direction.
 3. A device according to claim 2, wherein said advanced element is actuated when the counter has counted a length at least equal to 9/10 of said predetermined length and wherein said advanced element also initiates launching the empty spool which is to receive the wire following the transfer operation.
 4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the initiating means for the transfer operation comprise an end-of-travel contact which is actuated when the traverse mechanism reaches the end of its back travel, said end-of-travel contact being connected to a circuit in series with said control element.
 5. A device according to claim 1, wherein said counter comprises a cam which is rotationally driven at a speed proportional to that of the wire, two pulse actuators disposed on diametrically opposite sides of said cam and actuated thereby, a summing circuit coupled to said actuators such that all the pulses from one of the actuators are transmitted to said summing circuit, and wherein said means for doubling the counting rate comprises a contact which upon being closed also controls the transmission of pulses from the other actuator to the summing circuit.
 6. A device according to claim 1, wherein said counter comprises means for generating pulses of a frequency proportional to the wire speed, means for dividing said frequency by two and a summing circuit coupled to the output of said frequency dividing means, and wherein said means for doubling the counting rate of the counter comprises a circuit for short-circuiting the output of said divider means. 